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OUR BEGINNINGS

To forecast the behavior of consumers, who so often say one
thing and then do another, is a tough way to make a living. But
that's just what we've been doing at this magazine for the past
quarter century.

In this issue, as we commemorate our 25th anniversary, we offer
a forecast for the next 25 years. In the opening feature of our
package, Editor-at-Large Alison Stein Wellner describes the three
key demographic trends that will shape the business landscape
through 2025. For a magazine whose enduring mission is to identify
trends and provide insight into buying behavior, we thought it
fitting to start our package with a look ahead at the consumer
marketplace. Says Wellner: â€œThe trends that will influence
business agendas of tomorrow are already gaining momentum
today.â€?

American Demographics has been focused on the marketplace
of tomorrow since its inception. The idea for the magazine was
conceived in the summer of 1977 by Peter Francese. As he tells it,
he was on a family vacation on Fenwick Island, Delaware, casting
about for a more financially rewarding job that would enable him
and his wife to send three children to college. Never did he
imagine that the magazine would one day be owned by media
conglomerates â€” such as Dow Jones, and now Primedia â€”
or that it would last as long as it has. â€œAt the time, I was
selling demographic data, and it suddenly occurred to me that there
was, in fact, an entire industry in need of a magazine,â€? he
says. â€œI jumped up from the beach, ran inside and wrote a
one-page business plan.â€?

Francese went on to form a corporation in April 1978 â€”
giving birth to American Demographics. Several months later,
in January 1979, the first issue debuted. Says Francese: â€œI
was warned that only one magazine in 25 survives its first year,
and we would likely be bankrupt by the end of the year.â€?
Nevertheless, he borrowed against his family's house in Ithaca,
N.Y., and began to seek investors. The magazine's first office was
in a former dormitory at Cornell University that had been
condemned. The rent: only $90 a month; they typed their stories on
an IBM Selectric, sending the pages out to be typeset.
â€œDespite the challenges, I felt that my only option was to
make this venture work, because as I tried to build this magazine,
I met people who had just as much passion for the data â€” and
believed in the idea for the magazine â€” as I did,â€? says
Francese. â€œOver the years, many of these folks have brought
their vision and passion to the pages of American
Demographics. It is profoundly gratifying to see the magazine
still doing what it set out to do 25 years ago.â€?